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Here's a nice surprise for television advertisers: Digital video recorders are actually increasing, not decreasing, the number of viewers who are watching the commercials. Nearly half of the DVR owners in the critical 18- to 49-year-old age group watch the commercials, which boosts ratings, Nielsen says.

For the 14.5 million unemployed people with more time on their hands during the recession, watching Internet ads and answering online questionnaires may seem like a big waste of time. After all, there are job applications to fill out and jobs to find.But spending about five minutes a day looking at...